Saturday, November 27, 2010

Patrick introduced me to a fighter named Edson Mendes Barboza Jr. from Brazil.

He currently fights MMA with a record of 7 wins and 0 losses: 6 KO's and 1 submission.

Alone, that record would seem impressive. However, he also has a 28 fight Muay Thai career at 25 wins, with 22 by KO.

What's really nice to see is that his standup game is clearly Muay Thai. Not K-1, not kickboxing, not karate, not Sanshou and NOT "MMA muay thai" (whatever that is).... it's Muay Thai.

He also isn't a fighter who simply trained Muay Thai. He has been training BJJ extensively. He has shown up to the MMA party with a lot of MT experience, but a well rounded game over all. I think it's for these reasons you're going to really see him rise up.

This is a point I've been arguing for a while: the future of MMA is going to see a move back to the traditional. The best fighters are the ones who study each discipline they are involved in specifically and intensively.

GSP and Anderson are examples of this. They are both well versed in different disciplines by training in them separately...not simply getting an MMA striking coach or grappling coach. YES, they do have teams that bring it all together, but they still get their skills by training with the best of each world. A non Muay Thai example would be GSP wrestling with the Olympic wrestling team.

These guys go to specialists of their craft to train...then they bring it all together by smartly choosing how and when to use their techniques. It's by having the most complete skill set possible that fighters like Edson are able to succeed in my opinion.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Bodman does an interview on his friend and fellow gym member Steve's blog. I wanted to share it mainly because he outlines the difficulties in balancing his training with everything else. He has lately been in the gym as early as 7am or as late as 11pm; usually because his work situation doesn't allow him any other time to train.

If he can do what he's been setting out to do...you can too.

I've trained with Bodman for 2 years, and I even remember teaching his introductory class. I watched him improve. I watched him take months off because of school too, and play catch up for it. Yet he came back and has been grinding ever since.

You've got a lot of other fighters or simply just students at our gym that exemplify this work ethic. Just look up at the fighter's board or the "student of the month" nominees. They're all regular people. They have commitments, they enjoy a night out or are trying to establish careers. However, they know where they want to be in Muay thai, and how good they want to get.

Whatever badmon or these other people end up doing is totally up in the air. Who knows if we'll see the next champion or teacher out of anyone. For now, you have several examples of people MAKING time to reach their goals.

Want abs? Make time to run. Want a better kick? Make time to hit the bag outside of class.

Whatever you set out to do...it's possible. Make your dreams a priority today.

It's easy to get caught up in comparisons. If you know you're better than the "other guy", you probably won't have to bring it up too often. Your performance will speak for itself most of the time, or you'll hear it through other people's compliments.

Sometimes though, the "other guy" will be more advantaged, and can afford more opportunities than you can seem to get. Maybe the "other guy" will get easier fights, or have no life commitments to get in the way of training.

It's easy to look at these people and say you deserve more recognition than they do.

But what are you DOING now? What have you been doing and how much of that lines up with what you SAY you've been doing?

Perhaps you aren't seeing someone who deserves less than you get rewarded.Perhaps you are actually seeing someone surpass you.

Far be it from me to critique such high level fighters, but I always feel like there is something to be learned from them. This looks like KO due to a range error. Meethee threw a kick when Pentai was in punching range. It's a solid reminder about the importance of choosing your weapons. Even the best fighters can make these split second mistakes that another can capitalize off of.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

This weekend (Nov 13 2010) was a big one for YMT. Leo and Durst fought on the Jouney Fight series card in Calgary with Kru Jen + PC David and the Fu in the corner. Zhang fought on the Border Brawl 2 in Rochester with PC Cam + Joben and Patrick in the corner.

Unfortunately, Patrick's opponent had to pull out due to a last minute travel issue.

Leo came away with a decision win

Durst fought a great battle but lossed a decision.

Zhang gave his opponent a standing-8 and then went on to take the decision

Also victorious was Andrew Poon from Kru Jay's camp Victory Muay Thai! He stopped his opponent with hard leg kicks.

A big thank you to:

Kru Jen and PC Lindor for training the fightersAll the intermediates for the sparringPC Kosta and ConstructionKru Jay Bathija and Victory MTAjahn Suchart for his blessingsCarmela, Pat Trinh and Dennis for driving the Rochester gangDaniel Balayut for cornering helpPC David Kim and Michael Fu for help in the corner!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Buakaw Por Pramuk and the legendary Thai scrapper Bovy Sor Udomson will be fighting in a big shoot boxing tournament that also features Andy Souwer.

Shoot boxing is different from Muay Thai, but there are similarities and the Thais seem to make a decent transition from the rule and scoring sets (unlike in K-1).

I'm pretty sure Bovy's prime competitive weight is not at the 70kg mark (Buakaw and Souwer fight at this weight)...but we'll see if he can pull off a win. Bovy has the soul of a monster and can put anyone to sleep when he's having a good day.